Pa. Man Recovering From Fall, Black Bear Encounter

GREGG TOWNSHIP, Pa. --

Officials with the Pennsylvania Game Commission confirmed with WJAC-TV that an Aaronsburg man is recovering from injuries following an encounter with a bear on Monday night.

Centre County 911 dispatchers said rescue crews were called after reports of a man attacked by a bear in the woods along Upper Georges Road near Spring Mills just before 7 p.m.

A spokesman with the Game Commission confirmed reports that the man called 911 on his cell phone from the woods and was LifeFlighted to Geisinger Hospital in Danville with injuries to his head, neck, arms and legs.

Officials said an initial investigation of the scene and an interview with the man in the hospital indicate his injuries were the result of a 15-foot fall from his tree stand and a possible attack by an adult black bear.

The unidentified man told a conservation officer that he fell from his tree stand while trying to scare away a bear cub climbing up the tree and encountered an adult bear with four cubs on the ground.

Penn State Wildlife Ecology professor Dr. Duane Diefenbach told WJAC-TV that the black bear population in Pennsylvania has rapidly grown over the past decade, with an estimated 15,000 animals in the state.

“There have been relatively few conflicts, although they are going to increase as the bear population increases,” said Diefenbach. “They could easily kill humans. The fact that they don’t very often speaks to the fact that black bears really aren’t a threat to the community.”

Game Commission officials didn’t release the name of the victim but said he was still being treated at Geisinger as of Tuesday afternoon.

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